Deal with the Dragon (Immortals Ever After Book 1)

by Nicole Blanchard

  Thinking of the rumors, I said, somewhat breathily, “Somehow I don’t believe that.”

  With a sigh, he said, “What would you like to know, pet?”

  Put on the spot, I struggled to think of a pertinent question. Truth be told, I was stalling a little. What little intimacies I’d had in my life had not prepared me for what was to come.

  Noticing my discomfort, he said, “Perhaps we should stick to not talking. We seem to get along well in that respect.”

  Rhys got to his bare feet to corral me toward the bed. He urged me toward the bed and I refused to take to it like the weak virgin I was. Instead, I turned to offer him my back. “The laces. Would you mind? I can’t reach them.”

  He murmured his approval. “I enjoy this color on you.” His fingers slid up the exposed skin of my back, so slowly that I felt each finger as it passed over every ridge of my spine.

  “It is the color of your house, isn’t it?”

  “Yes.” He reached for the ties and pulled. The material at the front of my dress loosened and caught on my breasts. My fingers quaked, but I let the dress fall, pooling at my hips.

  I turned to face him, but he stopped me with an arm around my belly, pulling my back flush against his bare chest. I shivered against his heat.

  “Lord Blaque?” I asked. I’d worked up the courage for this moment throughout my preparations for the binding ceremony. If I put it off, I may very well lose my nerve. Which was the one thing I couldn’t allow in his presence.

  “There’s no rush. I mean to bed you as many times as it takes.”

  If I were being honest, I wasn’t altogether put off by the prospect. If the vision his dragon had shared with me was any sign, I wouldn’t lack for pleasure from the experience.

  I stilled under his roaming hands, allowing them to map the expanse of my back with the soft, heated touch of his fingertips. He gathered the length of my hair and arranged it over one shoulder so he could kiss the curve of my neck. I arched to the side, allowing him access, and one of his hands stole in front of me to cup the tender weight of one breast in his big palm.

  He licked a path up my neck and heat washed over me that had nothing to do with the crackling fire in the hearth. Going to bed with him would have been so much easier if I didn’t enjoy his touch so much.

  “Give in to me. Let me take care of you,” he whispered in my ear.

  The want for him suffused my being, and I let it take over all rational thought like I had in the illusion he wove. Focusing on the rough touch of his work-hewn palms over the silk of my skin, or the wet bite of his kiss, was easier than worrying what might come of my submission when the sun rose. It was better than worrying about what parts of me he might unearth and plunder to make his own.

  I turned to face him, my lips rising in askance, and the warm thrust of his tongue gave me all the answers I needed to know. He nipped at my lip, took it between his teeth, and then soothed away the sting. The tips of my breasts pressed against the warm skin of his chest and my toes curled in the elaborate sandals I’d worn for the binding ceremony.

  My fingers fluttered over his chest in an immature show of nerves. Many monarchs before me were bound to those they did not choose. Allegiances were formed. Whole populations were saved. It was my duty as a royal to ally myself with a mate who could be of the most use. I was grateful we didn’t stick to the traditions of old where the consummation had to be witnessed by other royals.

  I never thought I’d want him as much as I did.

  I never thought he would make my blood burn or my heart race.

  He swiped a hand behind my knees and I threw my arms around his neck for stability. He lifted me as though I weighed no more than a feather and carried me to his unkempt bed. As he laid me down on its softness, I changed my mind. I was glad the servants hadn’t switched out his bedclothes because his scent surrounded me in every direction. It emanated from the sheets at my back and his hard body to my front until I was dizzy with it, consumed by it.

  Rhys followed me down, covering my small body with his own. My legs tangled in the remaining material of my dress and he removed it with aching slowness, his eyes on mine as his fingers trailed down my stomach and over my hip, then down the length of my legs, leaving me completely bare to his gaze. I allowed him to look his fill, and my body did not tremble. He fit himself between my legs, the movement both aggressive and exhilarating.

  He propped himself on his arms above me. “Don’t be afraid. I won’t hurt you.”

  I squared my shoulders as much as I could and met his stare. “I am not afraid.”

  “Such a spirited little princess you are.” He surprised me with a slow, languid kiss. “I didn’t think I’d like it.”

  “I do endeavor to please you, my lord,” I said dryly.

  I thought he might say something witty, but he was too busy nibbling at my lips. His breeches were soft against my thighs. I experimented with the sensation and wrapped them around his waist, pulling him against me with the strength of my legs.

  “Yes.” His low moan did wicked things to the pulsing deep inside of me. It was all he said, but the word was full of unsaid things. The deep, low moan emanated from his chest, full of want and need and desire… for me.

  The tips of his fingers mapped the hills and valleys of my ribs, growing ever closer to the straining buds of my nipples. My back arched to bring him closer, but his fingers stilled just underneath where I wanted them most. I brought my hands to his biceps because I needed something, anything, to hold onto to weather the onslaught.

  His mouth stole down my throat and over my collarbone. My breath stuttered to a halt, and his lips pulled into a grin against my skin. “Where would you like me to touch you first?”

  Was everywhere a possibility? I wondered, before I recalled that he could hear my every thought.

  “Your wish,” he murmured.

  I expected it would be more of the same from the vision; in fact, I was quite looking forward to it, if I was being honest. But instead of going where I wanted him, where I needed him, he moved down my stomach.

  “What are you doing?” I breathed.

  He pressed a kiss to my hip, and my hands went automatically to his long, thick hair. “I’m giving you what you need.”

  I didn’t contradict him. I couldn’t even if I wanted to. Not with the waves of need coursing through me with increasing urgency. His hands moved to my hips and started the slow journey down. He positioned my legs so he could settle his wide shoulders to fit between them. He was so close to me that I could feel his breath fanning against the wetness there. Anticipation built until I was fairly trembling with it.

  Then, he pressed a long, wet stroke of his tongue against the center of me and I gasped, my legs widening of their own volition. There was a delicious wickedness in the wide spread of my legs. Like before when he had me pressed against the wall where anyone could see. He must delight in having me vulnerable, at his mercy.

  “You know I do,” he said in my mind.

  One strong arm pinned my bucking hips, and I lost my protests in the flick of his tongue and sting of his teeth. The restraint incited the growing need in my stomach and my breath caught on a strangled scream of frustration. Confusion and excitement warred inside me as I fought against the rising storm of sensation.

  “That’s it, pet,” he said. “Let it come.”

  One hand shifted, going between my legs to join his devious tongue. He traced my entrance and my hands flew up to grasp the bedposts for stability, certain whatever he had planned next would shatter me.

  He teased me, flirting with quick flicks and gentle caresses until I could cry from annoyance. “Please,” I begged on a moan. “Rhys, please.”

  Then one stroke, almost too deep and hard for comfort sent me over the edge. I felt it doubly. Once from my view, the physical pleasure I experienced from release, and yet another from his, but only for a split second. The enjoyment he got from watching me, doing it to me. The pleasure-pain of h
is own throbbing desire. All of it had me seeing stars.

  The pleasure didn’t abate from the climax. Instead it grew. I wanted him, if only to appease it. When I regained control of my limbs, I cupped his face with my hands and pulled gently, bringing his hot, hard body over mine.

  He took my mouth with wild abandon, slanting his head over me, his tongue plundering and ruthless. Much like the man himself.

  The deep, mind-numbing kiss caused the world around us to spin off into oblivion. I didn’t want it to end. Then, a brief moment of pressure and the sense of intrusion spiraled me back to rationality. There wouldn’t be any going back if we continued. The words balanced on the tip of my tongue. It would have been easy to go back on the agreement—well easy for me.

  But, I didn’t, I couldn’t. Too much relied on me. And if I admitted it to myself, a part of me craved him. I bared my throat to receive his mark. He sealed his lips against my pulse point and his tongue flicked out, before his teeth pierced the skin. I winced, expecting pain beyond measure, but I was shocked by the flood of pure pleasure, even more exquisite than what I had already experienced.

  My eyes popped open, my nails dug into the prominent muscles of his back, and then there was a burn between my legs, one that stole the breath from my chest.

  “Stars,” he muttered against my throat as we became one. “Elena.”

  I didn’t respond, I couldn’t. Then he pushed fully inside, assuaging the sting of pain by murmuring endearments in my ear. He whispered in the ancient language, enchantments, curses, I didn’t know. And after a few moments... I didn’t care. He was big and hard and completely inside of me.

  All around me.

  Overwhelming in his intensity.

  As he pumped inside of me until I surprised us both with another climax, I had enough presence of mind to realize there would be no going back.

  We were bound together.

  10

  Rhysander

  I dressed and left the princess sleeping in my bed before the sun rose. The castle was quiet as a tomb. Most of the servants shied away as I ambled to the upper levels. I could have taken to wing from the same balcony where we’d landed the night before, but I wanted to put as much space between Elena and I as possible. The blending between our minds was a constant throb now that we were bound, but it dulled a little with the distance.

  I stopped a servant, whose eyes bulged at my hand on their arm. “Please inform Prince Gideon the Princess and I will leave at first light. Have our coaches prepared and my men informed.”

  “Yes, Lord Blaque,” he replied with a stammer. “Of-of course.”

  I’d mirror Alaric before we left to keep him abreast of our travels. With the attack in Braedon, I didn’t want to linger away from home too long. Now that my contract with King Baron was satisfied, the men I’d appointed to the southern borders of the realm would also return with us. A point of contention I’d not allowed the crown to sway.

  Shrugging the thoughts away, I launched myself from a barren room I’d broken into at the highest levels of the castle. The smattering of capital serfs were but smudges beneath me as I urged my ice-blue wings to strain higher and higher. Soon I’d have more of my people in the skies alongside me. There’d be so many Dragon-Clan, we’d blot out the stars.

  Those among my advisors thought my plan foolish. The curse on me couldn’t be broken.

  But I didn’t plan to outwit the curse.

  I planned to break it.

  And my pretty mate was the key.

  As the sun rose on the edge of the horizon, I tipped my wings to carry me to the balcony’s edge. Elena was awake, I could see through the hazy glass windows. She was still in bed, wrapped tight in my sheets, but otherwise naked. Her bare shoulders were visible above where she fisted the material in her hands, as well as the swells of her firm breasts.

  I could have her now, if I wanted.

  I’d been inside her mind and I knew she’d bend to my will with the slightest enticement. She’d been as hot as dragon flame beneath me, around my cock. Remembering it had my fangs lengthening and my dragon purred.

  He’d like it, too. So much, he’d claimed her as his own.

  It hadn’t been a part of my plan to brand her with my mark. The magick between mates is ancient and as complicated as court etiquette. In short, branding your mate comes from the shifter’s animal. It’s a sign the beast preferred the match and wanted to make it known to the world. If I had a choice in the matter, I wouldn’t have marked her as mine. Most people saw the sign of a brand as the sign of true mates, which was ludicrous. True mates were the thing of faerie tales. Worth less than a promise from the Prince of Fae himself.

  It didn’t matter. Beasts were fickle creatures, prone to fits of temper and whim. He merely felt the power from her family line, as I did, and knew the alliance was a beneficial one. He marked her to protect that alliance. Maybe he was cleverer than I gave him credit for.

  Perhaps the mark would make her even more amenable to the arrangement. The sooner I had her belly swollen with a child, the better. I planned to devote myself to the effort until we had several hatchlings to carry on the Blaque name.

  Feeling markedly more relaxed after the flight I strolled into the room. Elena jerked the sheets up to her neck. “Lord Blaque!” she exclaimed with a squeak. “The servants said you were preparing to leave.”

  “I wish I wasn’t naked,” her thoughts called out to me.

  “I’m glad you are,” I answered.

  Her eyes widened, and I chucked. “As soon as you bid your father farewell, we leave for the Northlands.” Dropping my voice an octave, I added, “We’ll save the nakedness for when we get to Fellenor.”

  She ignored the last comment and said instead, “Thank you. I-I’m grateful. He means a lot to me.” I didn’t have to read her mind to know that was true.

  Elena’s cheeks were flushed pink as she got to her feet, the swaths of sheets rippling around her body. With aching tenderness I wasn’t sure I deserved, she moved to my side and kissed my cheek. The affection resonated deep inside me, rippling like stone disturbing water. I didn’t want to be disturbed. I liked my waters clear and calm.

  “I need to see to my men,” I said gruffly, cutting off the moment. “I’ll wait for you in the stables.”

  Her lips parted in question, then she pressed them together with a nod. “Very well. I’ll be quick.”

  “Take your time.” I caught sight of my mark on her neck as she turned away and my chest was alight with internal flame. I choked down its embers and ignored the roaring of my dragon, who urged me to pin her to the bed with my teeth and make her ours again.

  She dressed quickly and quietly. The door closed behind her when she was done, and I breathed a sigh of relief. The tether I had on my beast was tenuous at best. I wanted her bred, but on my terms, when I was in control. I’d never let myself lose control again. Not when it cost me everything I held dear.

  “You went through with it, then?” Alaric drawled, his countenance rippling on the surface of water I had pooled in the sink.

  “I don’t know why you sound so surprised.”

  “After Valeria, I never thought you’d find another mate.”

  Her name echoed throughout the room, and I froze in the midst of packing my things. In the years since she died, the members of my court had spoken of her so little, hearing her name spoken aloud was a shock. “Neither did I,” I murmured.

  “I hope it works out for you. I mean that. I’m eager to meet her.”

  I cleared my mind of my first mate. Memories of her were a black road I’d be best served by not revisiting. “Provided that we don’t run into another band of rogue humans, we should be there by week’s end.”

  “We’ve had no reports of attacks in the Northlands, but they’ve never ventured so far away from their territory. Do you truly believe they’ll risk crossing the ocean to retaliate?”

  “I don’t know what to believe anymore. Tensions have been rising agai
nst our people since long before we agreed to protect Aurelia’s southern borders from their vengeance. It may be that the time has come for them to place all the blame on us.”

  “Regretting the promise to Baron yet?” Alaric asked. There was a teasing note to his voice, but the meaning behind the question wasn’t without reason. There were plenty of female shifters I could have mated with, who wouldn’t have brought the wrath of the humans down on our clan.

  But none from as powerful a line as Elena. None with as close a tie to the throne, and therefore our ancestors, as her. None who ever caused me to doubt my vow to live the rest of my days alone, locked up in my castle, dooming my people to extinction.

  “We didn’t have another choice.”

  “You always have a choice.”

  “No, you always have a choice. You left your kingdom without a second thought. If I leave, my people are the ones with no choice.”

  “I won’t take that personally. Anyone would be rather put out after shackling themselves to another for the rest of their days.” I couldn’t tell from the mirror alone if the jab had offended him. I regretted it nearly the second it spilled from my lips. Alaric’s history was as complicated as my own, and I had no right to judge.

  There wasn’t an Immortal on the planet who didn’t have a tragic story to tell about their past, and his was more tragic than most.

  “I apologize. That was wrong of me to say.”

  He changed the subject, and I knew all was forgiven. “We’ve doubled the guard around the castle and in the crypts since the attack in Braedon. If they dare attack, they won’t make it out unscathed. I have to tell you, I’ll be more at ease when everyone is back safe.”

  “That makes two of us. Any other happenings I should be aware of?”

  “We’ve had reports of a ampire and a solitary fae in the area,” he answered.

  “Really? That’s unusual.”